Toy vehicles with energy-storing drive mechanisms are very popular. Typically one or more ground engaging drive wheels is fixed or geared to a flywheel on the vehicle. The user may grasp the vehicle in his or her hand and repeatedly run it along the ground to impart rotation to the drive wheel, which in turn imparts rotation to the flywheel. Thus, the momentum of the flywheel stores energy so that when the user places the vehicle on the ground, the energy is transmitted to the drive wheel to power the vehicle forwardly. Various launching devices been used for such toy vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,471,963 to Tomiyama, simulates the manual operation described above by holding a rear drive wheel of a toy 4-wheel car against a motor-powered rotating drum to impart energy to a friction motor. When the wheels are going fast enough, the car overcomes stop means and moves forwardly. The car is supported on four wheels and is not gyroscopically balanced as it moves.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,756 to Strongin discloses a launcher which holds a toy car with its combination rear flywheel/drive wheel off the ground while energy is imparted from a motor to that flywheel/drive wheel by means of a releasable coupling between the end of the shaft of the flywheel/drive wheel and the shaft of the motor. Then the coupling is disengaged by transverse movement and the car is lowered, permitting the car to move forwardly, balanced on its two front wheels and its single rear flywheel/drive wheel.
The German Pat. No. 1,029,719 shows a toy motorcycle having aligned front and rear wheels, but balanced by a pair of support wheels each positioned at one side of the motorcycle. This toy motorcycle includes a flywheel geared to a rear drive wheel. The flywheel is engaged by motor-operated power-transmitting means on a launcher to impart energy to the flywheel. However the flywheel is on a movable vertical shaft that is depressed to couple it with the power-transmitting means, and it appears also to disengage from the rear drive wheel while in this position. The flywheel shaft then moves back upwardly to disengage from the power transmitting means and to re-engage with the drive wheel, and the motorcycle moves forwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,540 to Convertine discloses a 4-wheel toy car and launcher. The car is elevated off the ground while an air pump imparts energy to a combination turbine/flywheel that is geared to the drive wheels of the car. The car is then lowered and released for forward movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,607 to Morrison discloses a gyroscopically balanced toy vehicle with a launcher. The toy vehicle has only a single wheel which combines the drive wheel and the flywheel; thus, there is no lowering of speed or increasing of power and duration of rotation of the drive wheel with regard to the flywheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,613 to Gelfand discloses a launcher for a 4-wheeled toy car having an inertia-motor. A manually rotatable crank is coupled to and imparts rotation to a shaft of the inertia motor. When enough energy is imparted, the user releases a separate latch, and a spring in the coupling arrangement urges the toy car forwardly and off of elevating supports on the launcher so that the rotating drive wheels of the car reengage the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,682 to Ieda et al, discloses a hand crank powered launcher for a toy motorcycle with an inertia motor. Side projections on the motorcycle are received in fixed slots in the launcher to elevate the motorcycle rear drive wheel while rotation is being imparted to it through a gear train on the launcher. When input is stopped, the motorcycle automatically moves forward, the projections move out of the fixed slots and the drive wheel is lowered.